The Planet That It's Farthest From
by Tess Tucker
Summary: What if the twins were not separated at birth, but instead Luke and Leia were both sent to the Lars homestead on Tatooine? What would be the galaxy's fate? (Don't worry, I am still planning on finishing this story! It will be about 5 more chapters max. I'm contemplating a few possible endings. It will be short but satisfying! 4/12/15)
1. Chapter 1

_**"Well, if there's a bright center to the universe, you're on the planet that it's farthest from."**_

**What if Luke and Leia were not separated at birth, but instead both sent to live with Owen and Beru Lars? **

**Would they still make it off Tatooine to save the galaxy? **

**I received this prompt from a reader and I was particularly interested in writing it because of the character study of Leia, and what she could have been like if she was raised on a moisture farm instead of as royalty. What place she would have in the Lars household. How everyone's favorite ass-kicking princess could also be an ass-kicking moisture farmer from Tatooine. We'll see how this goes! **

**I'm still writing Daughter of a Dead Woman, I just really loved this idea.**

* * *

Tatooine.

It was a planet known for little other than heat, sand, and sun. Those who had lived there for long had rough, sun-damaged skin and an equally sun-damaged disposition, having given up all hope of ever leaving the place.

A few miles west of Anchorhead, within the Great Chott Salt Flat, lay the Jundland Wastes. Canyons, rocks, womp rats, Jawas, and Sand People. Jundland lived up to its meaning: "No Man's Land". No man, it seemed, but the Lars family.

The Lars homestead was a moisture farm on the outskirts of the Jundland Wastes. Sixty-three tall, thin pipes called vaporators were splayed out around the property, turning humidity into droplets of water and storing that water in underground tanks. The harvest was approaching, and the hard work with it.

The actual living area started with a dome made of pourstone, which lead into an insulated crater of rooms—plenty to house the family of four that inhabited it: Owen Lars, his wife Beru, his nephew Luke, and his niece Leia.

Aside from the hum of the central vaporizers and the occasional bleat of a Tuskan Raider far off in the sand, the Lars homestead was a mostly quiet place. For this reason, Luke Skywalker could hear the approaching sandcrawler long before it arrived. It started out as a small brown box in the distance, slowly rolling through the sand towards the homestead.

"Uncle Owen!" Luke called from the courtyard, shading his eyes from the sun. "The crawler's here."

Luke was a sandy-haired nineteen-year-old with a medium stature and a lean build. There was still quite a lot of boy left in his face, still room for the look of a young man. His skin was bronze from almost two decades under the Tatooine suns. His blue eyes held a lust for adventure and recklessness that he just could not satiate. He wanted nothing more than to be free of the moisture farm and become a pilot like his father. Someday. Though as each day passed, "someday" felt more and more like a dream.

Once the sandcrawler parked in front of the homestead, a dozen Jawas—meter-tall aliens in cloaks—exited the vehicle and began unloading droids. Though they understood Basic, they spoke in a jabber of guttural hisses and croaks unfamiliar to most humans. Luke and his Uncle Owen made their way over to take a look at their inventory.

"Luke," called a kindly voice from the crater. Luke pivoted and jogged to the crater's edge to acknowledge his aunt. "Luke, tell Uncle if he gets a translator, be sure it speaks Bocce."

"Doesn't look like we have much of a choice," Luke replied. "But I'll remind him."

While his uncle took a look at a golden protocol droid, Luke inspected a white and red R2 unit.

"Luke," his uncle interrupted. "Take these two over to the garage, will you? Then pick up your sister and head straight back. Between the two of you, if she's willing to help, you should be able to clean them up before dinner."

Luke's expression sunk with disappointment.

"But I was going to stop at Toche Station to pick up some power converters!"

"I'm sure the last thing your sister wants to do after working in the shop all day is sit around the Toche Station waiting for you to stop wasting time with your friends. Now come on, get to it."

* * *

Anchorhead was not the safest of cities, but no place on Tatooine really was. It was roughly eighty kilometers south of the much more dangerous Mos Eisley, occupied by a market, a couple of cantinas, pourstone stores, and just barely outside the city was the Toche Station for power and distribution.

One of the small pourstone stores was a clothing shop owned by Naaldish Moors, an elderly man with white hair and orange, wrinkled skin. His assistant in the shop—outside the harvest season, at least—was nineteen-year-old Leia Skywalker. She was a beautiful girl with dark eyes and brown hair with highlights of lighter colors. She had fairer skin than most who had grown up under the Tatooine suns, with freckles dashed across her nose, but it suited her.

Skywalker had spent most of her younger years either working the moisture farm or learning how to cook and clean at the insistence of her Aunt Beru. The latter of which, Leia abhorred. Much like her twin brother Luke, she had interest in ships and swoops and adventure. The two used to plan future escapes from Tatooine, flying away together and never looking back. Luke would find the best pilot academy out there and Leia would further her education—which to date had been self-administered—in something that fascinated her like history or politics. Her brother was still as big of a dreamer as ever, but Leia had become more of a realist within the past two years or so.

When she and Luke had just turned seventeen, Luke was able enough to handle most of the farm chores and, without really giving her aunt or uncle any warning, Leia came home one day and told them she had gotten a job at Naal's clothing shop. It was the right thing to do, for herself and for her family. It kept some credits coming in once the harvest was over. Besides, she liked feeling useful. And getting a break from hearing Uncle Owen constantly putting her brother down was nice, too.

Leia checked her chrono. She expected Luke to pick her up any minute, so with Naal gone for the day, she started bringing some of the clothing racks inside to close up shop. She didn't notice that a green-skinned Rodian was sneaking around the racks on the opposite side of the store until it was too late. No sooner did Leia finally notice the Rodian running away with her bag she had left behind the counter, an impossibly tall creature with a dark brown pelt intercepted him and erupted into a growl that silenced everyone on the streets of Anchorhead.

Leia adeptly pulled out her DL-44 blaster, trying to pacify her trembling hands as she feared the hairy alien wanted her stolen pack for himself. With a simple blaster against that creature, her chances were slim to none.

With one swift swipe, the creature smacked the Rodian to the ground.

"Hey!" Leia snapped, her fear turning into intensity and making her words come out much harsher than intended. "That…um…" As the alien's furry head tilted as if trying to understand her, she put her blaster back at her side for a moment, praying the animal understood Basic. "That was stolen from me."

"Relax, kid," said a man approaching them. He dug Leia's pack out of the hands of the unconscious Rodian thief and returned it to its rightful owner. "The Wookie was doing you a favor." He gave her a wink and Leia tried to wipe from her face any indication of just how charming it was.

"Thank you," she said evenly, first to the hazel-eyed man, then to the Wookie.

"No problem, sweetheart."


	2. Chapter 2

"Thank the maker! This oil bath is going to feel so good! I've got such a bad case of dust contamination, I can barely move!"

Leia couldn't help but grin to herself, amused by the surprisingly dramatic protocol droid. She sat at the oil bath's edge in the garage with her brother and the droids, patiently waiting until the golden one was all cleaned up before she could bombard him with questions. Most protocols knew millions of languages and customs. Leia wanted to learn all she could.

Luke was guiding his model T-16 skyhopper through the air, a frustrated tightness in his face. Leia sighed. She knew that look. She kicked his leg from her spot on the floor.

"What's the matter, Wormie?"

His sister's kick startled Luke out of his trance. He looked at her for a moment, her long hair still full of sand from spending the day in Anchorhead. He set down his model fighter and crossed to the other side of the room.

"It just isn't fair," he exhaled, picking up a tool and taking it to the blue and white astromech droid. "Oh, Biggs is right, I'm never gonna get out of here."

"We will one day," Leia assured him. "Maybe not as soon as you want, but one day."

"Easy for you to say," Luke grumbled. "At least you get to spend most of the day in Anchorhead. I mean—you saw a Wookie today! That's more adventure than I see in a year. Uncle Owen lets you do everything."

Leia scoffed. "If Uncle Owen had his way, I would be a dainty little housekeeper. We're both more than he expected of us—meant to be more than moisture farmers… maybe that scares him." She rolled onto her knees and scooted over to Luke to watch his work on the smaller of the two droids.

"Is there anything I might do to help?" asked the golden droid.

"No," Luke replied. "Not unless you can alter time, speed up the harvest, or teleport us off this rock."

"I don't think so, sir," the protocol droid admitted, waist-deep in the oil bath. "I'm only a protocol droid and not very knowledgeable about such things. Not on this planet, anyway. As a matter of fact, I'm not even sure which planet I'm on."

"Well," Luke grumbled, "If there's a bright center to the universe, you're on the planet that it's farthest from."

"I see, Sir," the droid said.

"You're on Tatooine," Leia clarified for the droid. "In the Outer Rim. Arkanis sector."

"Yes, ma'am."

Leia smirked. One rarely heard such formalities on a planet like this.

"You can call me Luke," her brother corrected. "And my sister here is Leia."

"I see, Sir Luke."

Luke and Leia both chuckled at that one.

"Sir Luke," Leia imitated with an over-the-top, pompous tone.

"No, just Luke," the boy clarified.

As the protocol droid rose out of the oil bath with dripping limbs, he introduced himself as C-3PO and his astromech counterpart as R2-D2.

Leia stood by the oil bath to help Threepio out of it while her brother continued to fumble with Artoo's logic function displays.

"Is it just carbon scouring?" Leia asked, wondering what was causing Luke so much trouble.

"That, and something is jammed in here, I think," he told her. And then to the droid, "Looks like you boys have seen a lot of action."

"With all we've been through," Threepio said, "Sometimes I'm amazed we're in as good condition as we are, what with the rebellion and all."

The twins both jumped to either side of the protocol droid, eyes wide with fascination.

"You know of the rebellion against the Empire?!" Luke blurted.

"Who were you working for? A Senator? A viceroy?" Leia asked at the same time.

Threepio acknowledged Luke's question first.

"That is how we came to be in your service, Master Luke, if you take my meaning." And then to the girl, "And I apologize, Mistress Leia, but I am not at liberty to discuss former masters."

A grin from ear to ear, Luke nudged an even more awestruck Leia, both satisfied enough with imagining whom the droids could have belonged to. What battles they'd seen, who they had been in the presence of… The brunette just stood there, too enthralled to find a question to ask.

"Actually, there's not much to tell," Threepio admitted, as if apologizing for getting their hopes up. "I'm not much more than an interpreter, and not very good at telling stories. Well, not at making them interesting anyway."

Luke returned to Artoo with a sigh, now aiming the pliers at the droid's neck, above his computer interface arm.

Suddenly, the small droid let out a string of beeps and that—or possibly a shock from the droid, Leia couldn't tell—propelled Luke backwards. He knocked into his sister's legs, and had Leia not had fast enough reflexes to grab the edge of the oil bath, she would have fallen into it.

A blue light shot out of Artoo-Detoo's optical holographic projector, displaying an image of a man both of the Skywalker's recognized immediately.

Bail Prestor Organa: former senator of Alderaan, and one of Leia's greatest heroes. He stood there in a robe reflecting the style of the Republic Classic Era, his hair dark but graying at the ears. A wave of warmth fell over Leia. A comfort. A familiarity.

The Alderaanian's picture flickered on the floor in the middle of the garage. A fragment of a message—the end of it, presumably—played in a loop.

"Help us, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You are the only one who can."

After the message had played several times, Luke turned to his sister.

"Obi-Wan—you think he's related to old Ben Kenobi?"

"Doubtful," Leia shrugged in response. "What are the odds?"

Threepio perked up. "The approximate odds of two people with the surname 'Kenobi' being related are—"

"It was a figurative question." The girl turned to her brother. "See if you can get him to play back the whole thing."

Luke nodded and rolled back onto his feet to approach Artoo. The astromech droid blurted several beeps as if to say something, and the boy looked at the protocol droid to translate.

"He says the restraining bolt has short-circuited his recording system," Threepio explained. "He suggests that if you remove the bolt, he might be able to play back the entire recording."

"Oh, really?" Leia laughed. "Someone's flighty."

"He's just a droid," Luke reasoned, reaching for the restraining bolt and pulling it off. "Where's he going to go?"

As the restraining bolt came off, the holoprojection disengaged.

"Alright, can you play it now?" the boy asked the smaller of the droids.

Artoo beeped.

"What message?!" Threepio shot back at the astromech, smacking him over his dome with a metallic thud. "The one you've just been playing! The one you're carrying inside your rusty innards!" He turned to the twins. "I'm sorry, Master Luke and Mistress Leia, but he seems to have picked up a slight flitter."

Beru Lars called for Luke and Leia from the kitchen.

"We'll be right there, Aunt Beru!" Luke called back. He placed the restraining bolt in Threepio's golden hand. His sister took his arm to pull him aside before they left the garage.

"Let's not mention the message to Uncle Owen," Leia suggested. Luke furrowed his brow in thought.

"I was hoping he would know who Obi-Wan Kenobi was, though."

"Well, we can ask about that," reasoned the brunette, "But keep the part about Bail Organa to yourself. You know that look he gets when we talk about the rebellion or anyone associated with it. Just…let me do the talking."

Luke nodded in understanding, and the two met their aunt and uncle in the kitchen for dinner. With a twin on each side of the table, each one poured themselves a glass of blue milk and started on their dinner. Luke picked at it, while a much hungrier Leia started with a huge spoonful. Beru frowned at her.

"You always come home positively famished, darling," said her aunt. "You're working far too long in that shop."

"I'm fine," Leia assured her. She worked through about half her dinner, ignoring Luke's looks as if to say 'Bring it up, already!', before Uncle Owen started the conversation. Exactly what she was waiting for.

"How do you two think those droids will manage?"

"For a Jawa find," Leia said before Luke could get a word in. "They're in amazing condition. Great choices, Uncle Owen."

Just the slightest smile curled up on Owen's lips. Luke was the mechanic in the house, and everyone knew it, but Uncle Owen hated to hear it. Complimenting the old man with something along technical lines was one of the best ways to improve his mood.

"Oh, I was meaning to ask you," the girl started. "There was a traveller in the shop today. He said he was from Alderaan. Asking about a man named Obi-Wan Kenobi." She waited for a reaction, and definitely got it. The exchanged glance with Aunt Beru and the tightening in her Uncle Owen's face was evident. "He didn't seem to know of Ben Kenobi. Do you know if Obi-Wan is a relative of his?"

"Hmm," Owen grumbled, shaking his head. "I don't think he exists anymore. He died about the same time as your father."

"He knew our father?" Luke interjected, sharing a look with his sister.

"How?" Leia added.

"Forget it, you two," Owen told them resolutely. "Like I said. He doesn't exist anymore. Your only concern is to prepare those two droids for tomorrow."

* * *

After being told that it would still be another year before he could transfer to the pilot academy with the rest of his friends, Luke stalked out of the dome entrance to the homestead. He kicked the sand under his feet with frustration.

Yet another year as a moisture farmer, another year away from his dreams. A year seemed as far away as the setting Tatooine suns. The night was growing colder, and Luke let the wind whip his hair around his face. He stared off into the distance, longing for the day when he could see something other than sand.

He felt fingers curl around his hand and a head on his shoulder, knowing it was Leia before she even touched him.

"I can't imagine ever wanting to turn back," he confessed. "Once we're finally gone."

"You don't think you'll ever miss it?" his sister asked.

Luke shook his head immediately. He looked down for a moment, as if pausing to regret the words, and Leia looked at him. The unspoken dialogue between them was difficult to understand or explain, it was just a feeling of knowing. Stronger than intuition, though not quite mind-reading.

Luke wished he had Leia's patience. She could have waited a year, even two years to get away from Tatooine. Though as adamant as Luke was to leave, going without his sister wasn't even an option. He couldn't even imagine it, no more than one could imagine what it would be like to live with only half a soul.

Then, the Skywalker twins' eyes rose to the twin suns of Tatooine—one sun pink and one orange, one set of eyes blue and one brown.

One day, much like the sand surrounding them now, the entire galaxy would be splayed out before Luke and Leia Skywalker.


	3. Chapter 3

Her hair still dripping wet from a much-needed shower, Leia Skywalker squeezed the water out of her curls with a thick towel. No matter how long she combed it, she still woke up with rough crumbs of sand on her pillow.

Suddenly, her brother burst into the room.

"Luke!" she screeched, her hands flying to make sure her robe was secured tightly around her. "Why is knocking such a foreign concept to—"

Luke clapped a hand over his sister's mouth, and Leia responded by punching him in the arm.

"Ow!"

"What is it?!" Leia hissed, keeping her voice down to appease him.

"Artoo—he's gone!"

Leia blinked. "What do you mean 'he's gone'?"

"He ran away!" Luke exclaimed as quietly as possible. "Trying to find his former master, no doubt."

The brunette let herself fall on her bed with exasperation. "I knew that removing his restraining bolt was a bad idea."

"Not helping."

"Uncle Owen's going to kill you."

"Again," Luke muttered. "Not helping."

"Well, what do you expect me to do, Luke?"

The blonde ran a hand through his hair, shaking his head. "I've got to get up early and look for him… Can you cover for me?"

"I would," Leia admitted regrettably. "But I'm working tomorrow. And you have to drop me off."

Luke dejectedly pushed on his face with his hands. "I'm dead…" he whined. "I'm so dead."

"Oh, stop it," Leia rebuked. "You can still leave early to look for him, you just have to take me with you and drop me off at work if we don't find him before I have to be at the shop."

Luke charged into Leia to hug her. He would have knocked her over if he hadn't lifted her up off her feet with the squeeze.

"Ow…" Leia murmured.

"Thank you!"

"_OW."_

"Sorry," Luke said sincerely, putting his sister down. "Hell, I thought I was dead…"

Leia gave him a grin. "Don't worry, we'll find him. Set your chrono alarm. We should head out of here just before sunrise."

* * *

First thing in the morning, Luke woke his sister up for the search. Leia assembled a note to leave for their aunt and uncle saying that she forgot about having to go into work early today, and that Luke planned to run some errands afterwards with the droids.

With Leia looking through the macrobinoculars and Luke behind the wheel of his X-34 landspeeder, the two traveled slowly east towards Anchorhead. If they didn't find Artoo-Deetoo in that direction before Leia had to be at work, the plan was that Luke would drop her off and continue the search in the other direction. Threepio was sitting behind them, on top of the part of the repulsorcraft that housed the repulsor-field generator. Not the most ideal way to transport a droid, but the V-35 they also had in the garage would have been too slow for the extent of the search. Luke kept looking behind him to make sure Threepio hadn't fallen out of the vehicle.

"Anything?" Luke asked his sister.

"Nothing," Leia sighed in defeat, dropping the macrobinoculars into her lap. "Nothing but sand. You wouldn't happen to remember where Ben actually lives, would you?" She thought for a moment. "Come to think of it… have we even seen his home before?"

"I don't know," Luke admitted. "I haven't seen him around in at least five years or so. Have you?"

Leia shook her head. "I thought I saw him near the shop a year ago, but for all I know it wasn't even him."

The twins waved to some friends as they passed the Toche Station and made their way into Anchorhead. Within a minute or so, Luke was slowing the landspeeder to a stop in front of Naal's store.

"I'm going to head back out west," Luke explained with a sigh. "Hopefully I'll have better luck there."

"Oh, Master Luke, I'm so sorry Artoo is causing so much trouble," Threepio apologized.

Leia gave her brother a remorseful look, handing him the macrobinoculars and hopping out of the landspeeder.

* * *

The day could not pass by any slower for Leia. She welcomed the distractions of the few customers she had to interact with, but she still couldn't rid a feeling of dread from the back of her mind. Her intuition had always been eerily strong—Luke's, too. And right now, she definitely felt like the universe was trying to tell her something.

A tap on the shoulder almost startled her enough to reach for her blaster. The girl concealed a gasp as she turned around and looked up into the coal-black triangular eyes of a stormtrooper.

"What is it you need, gentlemen?" Naal, her boss, asked from behind the shop's counter. "This young lady is just my assistant, I am the owner of this store."

With that, the two troopers lost interest in her and approached Naal instead, but Leia's heart didn't stop pounding. Her knees buckled for a moment, and she grabbed one of the clothing racks for support. She shook her head vigorously, as if to shake off the dizziness. The words between Naal and the stormtroopers started running together until they were just murmurs. Her vision started to darken, then faded to black.

* * *

Leia awoke to the feel of a cool cloth on her head, and the grasp of a warm, comforting hand. Her eyes fluttered open, and as her vision returned, she saw her Aunt Beru sitting at her bedside.

"How are you feeling, darling?" Beru asked, her kindly blue eyes crinkling as she smiled.

Leia looked around, confused at finding herself back at home when the last thing she remembered was being at work.

"What happened?"

"You fainted," the older woman explained. "Naaldish closed the store for the day and brought you home."

Leia placed her hands behind her, pushing herself to sit upright. She tried to recall the moments before she passed out.

"He told us about the robbery yesterday," Aunt Beru continued. "When were you going to mention that?"

"It was nothing," Leia sighed. "It was an attempted robbery. I just didn't want you to worry or for Uncle Owen to make me quit."

Beru looked down evasively. Leia's expression tightened.

"He didn't."

"He was worried about you—"

"Aunt Beru!" Leia retorted. "Naal needs me there! And outside of the harvest, we could use the money—you know that!"

"Leia, dear, it's not your job to worry about the family's income."

Leia pushed the covers off herself, looking down in disgust at the sand that sprinkled her bed since she was wearing the same clothes she wore to work. She swung her feet over the edge of the bed, turning away from her aunt. Aunt Beru didn't deserve her anger; she knew Uncle Owen was the one who she needed to talk to.

Beru reached an orangey, winkled hand to her niece's shoulder.

"Why do you think you fainted, darling?" she asked gently. "Naaldish thought you were still shaken from the robbery."

"It's not that," Leia responded, suddenly remembering what was on her mind in those moments before she lost consciousness. "It was just… this feeling…" She glanced back at her aunt for a moment, aware that Beru had some understanding of what she meant by _feeling_. Often Leia speculated that her aunt and uncle knew more about her and Luke's intuitive feelings more than they did. Uncle Owen feared it, but when he wasn't near, Aunt Beru would tell them to trust it.

Leia closed her eyes for a moment, running the events before she passed out in her head. Checking price tags. Dealing with a Twi'lek who insisted on bartering the price of a tunic far below what it was worth. Sharing a laugh with Naal at a red-faced child across the street who—to his mother's exhaustion—was running in circles around everyone.

And then a tap on her shoulder.

"The stormtroopers," Leia whispered.

As her aunt questioned her meaning, Leia's vision went hazy and she suddenly heard a muffled explosion. She saw flames licking up around her legs, bright orange, blackening the walls of the homestead. Her aunt's voice brought her back to reality.

"Leia! Leia, dear, what is it?!"

As the girl's eyes refocused, she again felt the dread she had experienced in the shop.

"They're coming."

"Who?"

Leia jumped to her feet, grabbing her aunt's hand.

"Stormtroopers, they're coming here," Leia rushed. "We have to get out."

The brunette dragged Beru to the entrance of the homestead, where she quickly scanned the perimeter.

"Luke's not back yet, is he?"

"No, not yet," Beru answered. Somehow Leia knew her brother would be fine.

"We can still get away," Leia explained. "Get Uncle Owen, I'll get the Courier—"

"Leia—"

"I don't know when they're going to come, but we can't wait until—"

"Leia!" Beru snapped. That got Leia's attention. Beru _never _raised her voice. The elderly woman took her niece's face in her hands. "Leia, dear, you have to get the Courier right now. And then you have to leave."

Leia's dark eyes met her aunt's light blue ones.

"What about you?" she asked in a small, childlike voice. Beru's eyes began to glisten with impending tears, looking over Leia's face as if trying to memorize it. As if it was the last chance she had to do so.

"My darling girl…" she fought against the weakness in her voice. Fighting back the tears. Straightening. "Find your brother," Beru instructed. "These stormtroopers—they cannot find you. Owen and I can hold them off as long as we can while you and Luke escape."

Leia released a stifled sob, bringing her hand up to Beru's on her cheek. It all made no sense, but at the same time fate was already sealed. In her mind, she could see the scorched-black bodies of the only parents she'd ever known lying in front of the homestead, but in her heart she could not imagine ever letting go of Beru's hand.

The young girl looked over to Owen in the distance, waving at them from one of the moisture vaporizers. He started making his way in their direction, presumably to see how Leia was doing now that she was awake. Oblivious of what was coming.

"I can't do it," Leia whimpered. She couldn't help but wrap her hands around her aunt like a small child, sobbing into her shoulder. "I won't go without you…"

"You must," Beru insisted, unable to escape sobbing herself. "You must know that you and Luke—you are meant for so much more than this farm—just like you know that your uncle and I are not meant to leave it."

She gently held Leia at arm's length, took one more look into her niece's eyes, and gave the girl a soft kiss on the forehead.

"Now go."


End file.
